Attorneys for Auburn University maintain that the claims in the federal discrimination lawsuit brought by former assistant track coach Adrian Ghioraie are "legally deficient" and the case should be dismissed.

In an 11-page reply to Ghioraie's amended complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, attorney Logan Matthews of Birmingham-based firm Lightfoot, Franklin & White argues the position of Auburn University is for the lawsuit to be dismissed with prejudice because "the required facts are simply not there" for a Title VII claim under the Civil Rights Act.

"(Ghioraie)'s attempt to turn this dispute with a co-worker into a Title VII claim fails," Matthews write on behalf of the university. "While (Ghioraie) has attempted to add additional facts to support his Title VII claims against the Board in his First Amended Complaint, (Ghioraie) still fails to state a claim for relief to move his Title VII claims across the line from possible to plausible. (Ghioraie) has offered nothing more than legal conclusions."

Last month, Auburn's Board of Trustees and assistant track coach Henry Rolle filed separate motions to dismissGhioraie's lawsuit, arguing the board, which is facing four federal discrimination charges, "is not a legal entity capable of being sued" and Rolle, who the suit charges with assault and battery, is "entitled to sovereign immunity" as an Auburn employee. In an amended complaint filed last week, Ghioraie's attorney, John Saxon, changed the defendant to the university rather than the board, Rolle "in his individual capacity only" rather than "in his official capacity as assistant head track coach" and added a charge of negligence against head track coach Ralph Spry.

Ghioroaie is seeking compensatory damages from Auburn on three discrimination charges (race, national origin, based on color) and retaliation and compensatory and punitive damages from Rolle and Spry.

Now an assistant with Toledo women's track and field team, Ghioroaie, who is of Romanian descent, claims he was discriminated when his contract was not renewed at Auburn due to an altercation with Rolle, who is African-American. Ghioroaie claims Rolle assaulted him during an Oct. 2015 staff meeting, during which Rolle "put his hands around Ghioroaie's neck" and "grabbed a metal tiger statue and started to swing it" at his head and that Spry and other staffers witnessed the incident.

Matthews argues Ghioraie's complaint all stems from the dispute with Rolle, who was arrested by Auburn police for misdemeanor harassment on Sept. 13, 2016 after Ghioroaie filed a report in July 2016 for an incident that took place between Oct. 1, 2015 and Feb. 23, 2016. The criminal case against Rolle, who is still employed at Auburn but was not present when the men's track and field team was recognized during the home football game against Georgia last month, was dismissed with prejudice in May after he completed a pre-trial diversion program, according to court records.

"While (Ghioraie) has tried to attach four federal law claims to those two state-law claims (assault and battery) -- and now an additional state-law claim against his supervisor, which also centers around the underlying facts of his assault and battery counts -- the required facts are simply not there," Matthews writes in conclusion. "... (Ghioraie) has failed to plausibly allege that any action by the Board was related to his race, color, or national origin. Therefore, his attempt to attach four federal law employment discrimination claims to his assault and battery charge against a co-worker is due to be dismissed as a matter of law."

Auburn maintains "there was no adverse employment action" taken against Ghioraie and his "contract simply expired by its own terms."

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request for all of Ghioroaie's employment contracts at Auburn, the school provided an eight-month contract from Dec. 2013 to July 2014 and a Feb. 2015 letter extending his contract through July 2015.

Auburn's reply to Ghioraie's amended complaint refutes some of the relevance of prior cases referenced by Saxon as means of showing precedent to the court.

"Not only were the cases in a different procedural posture, they all failed," according to Auburn's reply. "Thus, none of the cited cases support the Plaintiff's position here."

Auburn's reply goes on to address Ghioraie's claim that he complained about the actions of Rolle and Spry to human resources and contends his allegations "remain woefully deficient" and asks for the case to be dismissed.

"There are no allegations establishing the legally basic parameters -- no allegation of the specific unlawful employment practice allegedly complained about; no allegation of who engaged in that unlawful employment practice; and no allegation as to when the unlawful employment practice occurred," Auburn's reply states. "And now that (Ghioraie) has unsuccessfully made a second attempt at getting his Complaint over the required legal hump, the Board asks this Court to refuse to allow him a third, futile effort."

Auburn has also retained Lightfoot, Franklin & White to conduct reviews of the school's softball and men's basketball programs, investigate an allegation of an academic staffer taking a test for a former football player and for representation in the federal wrongful termination suit from former baseball coach Sunny Golloway.

Rolle's attorney, Blake Oliver, also filed a brief reply on Monday stating "to the extent that Rolle is still technically a defendant in his official capacity, he is due to be dismissed." Oliver states a "further reply" to the amended complaint against Rolle will be filed later.

James Crepea is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @JamesCrepea.